Dear John,

The terms “audits” and “recounts” are often used interchangeably, but the two post-election processes use different means to build confidence in our elections. This is why we teamed up with Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota (CEIMN) on this FAQ highlighting the key differences between an audit and a recount.

Check out the excerpt below ⬇️ and the full piece here. If you want to help keep the public informed on these issues, please consider a gift to Verified Voting today.

What is the difference between an audit and a recount?

An audit is a routine part of the post-election process designed to ensure systems worked as expected. A recount is performed in response to something that may have happened in a specific contest, such as a very close margin, and could be initiated automatically by statute or requested by candidates, voters, election officials, or interested parties. Audits and recounts are important post-election processes, and they serve to build confidence in our election systems.

Recount and audit laws vary by state, but best practices for tabulation audits include routinely examining a random sample of voter-marked paper ballots by hand to check the machine-tabulated results. Although some states recount ballots by hand, in most cases, recounts are conducted by re-scanning the ballots and only hand-examining the ballots that can’t be interpreted by the scanners.

Often, auditing the machine tabulations can give confidence in the election outcome by examining only a fraction of the ballots. A recount usually recounts all ballots, and often allows the interested parties to challenge the interpretation of the voter’s intent.

Read the full piece here and share it with your friends ⤵️: